The first Methodist service of worship in Ipswich (then known as 'Limestone') was held on 28 January 1848. A congregation was established on 30 April that year, and a simple timber chapel was opened on 30 July 1849. The present building, known originally as 'the Wesley Chapel, Ipswich,' was opened in 1858, making it the oldest church building in Queensland in continuous use as a church. The original design of the building was possibly by the builder, Samuel Shenton, who later practised as an architect. It was extended in 1863 with a new gallery and façade to the design of Benjamin Backhouse, and in 1892 with the addition of transepts and a vestry designed by Henry Wyman.1

View of the building extended with transepts
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (November 2011)]

The organ was built in 1905 by B.B. Whitehouse & Co. of Brisbane. A report appeared in The Brisbane Courier prior to the opening of the organ as follows:

NEW ORGAN, METHODIST CHURCH.

Messrs. B. B. Whitehouse and Co., the builders of the new organ for the Ellenborough-street Methodist Church, have completed their task this week, and have certainly maintained their reputation for this class of work. The instrument has been seen and heard by many of our musical experts, who have pronounced it to be a distinct gain to the city. On entering the church one is struck with the very fine appearance of the instrument situated behind the rostrum, with the beautiful stained glass window just above it, the whole effect being very imposing. For the lover of music the following is a description of tile instrument;

The console is extended so as to allow the minister to have ample room between same and the organ. The case is of Queensland pine. The pedal action is tubular pneumatic. The organ is blown by a hydraulic engine, situated outside the church.

The console and pedals are made and arranged in accordance with the scale and measurements adopted by the Royal College of Organists, London. The organ will be used in connection with the church services next Sunday week, the 26th instant, for the first time. The official opening by Mr. George Sampson will take place on the following Monday evening.2

The instrument was dedicated at services on Sunday 26 February 1905, and a recital was given on the instrument the next day by Mr George Sampson, the Brisbane City Organist.3 As was the case with the two-manual organ for the Wharf-street Congregational Church, Brisbane (1899), it employed mechanical action on the manuals with pneumatic action on the pedals. The consoles at both Ipswich and Wharf Street were detached. As at both Wharf-street and at Wesley Methodist Church, Kangaroo Point (1903), the Ipswich organ has no casework above the impost, and the pipes are tastefully diapered.

Apart from regular tuning and maintenance by Whitehouse Bros, the organ remained unaltered over many years. It was overhauled in August 1943 at a cost of £42.5 Repairs costing £327 were noted in November 1952, and it was overhauled again in February 1955 at a cost of £560.6

In 1976 the organ was rebuilt by Whitehouse Bros with electro-pneumatic action and completely new soundboards on the Swell and Great Organs, new stop knobs (apparently not entirely retaining the original nomenclature), and the addition of a Pedal Bass Flute 8ft (derived from the Bourdon 16ft).7 The manual compass was extended to 61 notes at this time.

H.W. Jarrott of Brisbane provided new bellows and vertical swell shutters in 1994, at the same time electrifying the pedal action and adding octave couplers.8 A balanced swell pedal was provided, either in 1976 or in 1994.

Console of the organ following the 1976 rebuild
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]

4 Specification from The Brisbane Courier (18 February 1905), and as noted by G. Cox, 1973; also recorded in Collected Organ Specifications of Bernie Brohan (c.1952) & Notebooks of Mr E. R. Salisbury (n.d.).